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Friday, February 15, 2013

Problematic Motherhood on 'The Walking Dead'

Motherhood
means life, so in some ways it is not surprising that a show where the
dead rise and walk the earth, contains problematic treatment of
motherhood. Despite all of the running, hiding and struggle to survive,
motherhood has actually featured quite largely on The Walking Dead, the problem is that each instance in which motherhood has been an issue, it reveals not only the strong gender roles that The Walking Dead has enforced since the very first season, but an idealized form of motherhood.The
first mother we were introduced to was Lori. She escaped the city with
Carl and Shane (thank Gods he’s dead). Lori’s main motivation was
keeping Carl safe, when she wasn’t engaged in subsistence labour. It is
Lori who sat down with Carl and forced him to continue his studies. It
is Lori who tried hard to establish discipline and order in his life.
Lori’s only real identity for the bulk of her appearance on the show was
to nurture. The one time in which she chose to reject this limitation
because of the impact that it would have on her life, she was shamed. If
a woman can’t choose to have an abortion during a zombie apocalypse
when food, and shelter are scarce, then when can she? Her life
essentially meant nothing if she was not fulfilling her role as a
mother. When she went to Hershel with her fears, she was given the
“there there” treatment and sent on her way. Even in the best of
situations, labour can mean death but for a woman who had serious issues
with her first pregnancy and now faced labour without any modern
medical intervention, it was an absolute surety. In the end, Lori paid
for her motherhood with her life.Lori’s
death did not however convince Rick to take on the nurturing role for
his family. This duty was instead passed to Beth. Before taking on a
role as primary caregiver to the newborn, Beth’s greatest claim to fame
was lying down in her bed and giving up. Yes, in this day and age, The Walking Dead
actually had a young woman take to her bed. With a child to care for,
Beth is suddenly reinvigorated and taking an active interest in life
again, she has even gone as far as to talk about how she always wanted
to be a wife and mother. These are certainly admirable goals but the
fact that she didn’t have other aspirations as well, speaks loudly about
the role that women are expected to take on The Walking Dead.
As young as Beth is, she is already being constructed as a mother type
figure with no other discernible traits. Even Carl, who is several years
younger than her is walking around with a gun and entrusted with
protecting the prison. Though Judith is his sister, Carl’s involvement
in her daily life is minimal at best. The only other caregiver we have
seen look after Judith is Carol, despite the fact that Beth chose to
claim Darryl as the reason for Judith’s survival and Rick chose to thank
him for his contribution. The efforts of both Beth and Carol have gone
unrecognized. Beth
and Maggie’s mother is deceased and this of course happened off screen.
Hershel is their parent and yet it is Maggie who does the nurturing
work for Beth. There can be no doubt that a loving relationship exists
between Hershel, Maggie and Beth, but again, their roles are strictly
defined by gender. By default, it is Maggie who takes on the role of
parental figure, though this should absolutely be Hershel’s
responsibility. Hershel’s
general lack of parental duties is hardly unique - anyone googling
“Lori where’s Carl” can find a huge internet meme of all the times Lori
has lost track of Carl - it’s a running joke and, yes a funny one. Yet,
where are the memes for Rick? He put a gun in Carl’s hand, but he isn’t
expected to play the same role in Carl’s life that Lori does and no-one
is laughing at him for Carl’s frequent wandering off. We haven’t
actually had a depiction of really involved fatherhood since Morgan and
Duane Jones back in season 1 - and that, conspicuously happened not only
after Duane’s mother died, but also in the complete absence of any
female characters. Is that what it takes for men to step up for their
children in TheWalking Dead? No women at all?One of the most telling indications of mothers on The Walking Dead being defined solely by their motherhood is Carol. In our reviews and recaps of The Walking Dead
season 3, we have come to really love Carol as a character. She has
changed and grown so much in this season - gaining confidence and
strength and ensuring she is an asset to the group. She has learned how
to use a gun, she has learned medical skills from Hershel, she was even
ready to perform a caesarian on Lori, by practicing on walker to. She
has grown by leaps and bounds, grown stronger, grown harder and grown as
a person, with some excellent discussions on abuse with Beth and even
an intriguing relationship with Daryl. Rarely have we seen a character
grow so well.And
it all happened this season. Now, that could be an element of both
grief and time free from an abusive relationship that is allowing her to
grow and change, but it’s also telling that she started to become a
more realised person once she stopped being a mother. Before Sophia
died, Carol was a mother. That was her role - abused wife and mother,
that’s what she did, it was what she talked about, what she was involved
in. Her actions revolved around caring for her husband and child and,
when Sophia was missing, grieving for her. It’s hard to ignore the
pattern when both of the mothers on this show are defined almost
entirely by their mother hood. At least those who appeared for more than
a few episodes - does anyone remember Miranda Morales? Even then,
Miranda and her children were more silent additions to their husband and
father (similarly, this is all we know about the deceased Annette
Greene, Hershel’s wife).It’s hard to avoid the messages of this series. Mothers in The Walking Dead
exist to be mothers far more so than they exist to be people or
characters in their own right. So overwhelming is this duty to mother
that abortion, even in the face of such a risky pregnancy, is treated as
abhorrent and unthinkable. Caring for the children is the sum total of
these women’s existence - and certainly far eclipsing the roles of any
fathers on the show (where are the “where’s Carl?” memes for Rick?). Motherhood is not only their main defining feature, but their only defining feature.